Breakdown of Bili bi ispravili propust na vrijeme.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
vrijeme
time
propust
omission
Questions & Answers about Bili bi ispravili propust na vrijeme.
Why are there two l-participles (bili and ispravili) in this sentence?
This is the standard structure of the past conditional. It requires the present conditional of the helper verb biti (which is bili bi for "they") followed by the l-participle of your main verb (ispravili). Together, bili bi ispravili creates the meaning "they would have corrected".
Why is the enclitic bi placed after bili instead of at the beginning of the sentence?
Enclitics like bi are unstressed words that can never start a sentence in Croatian. Because the subject pronoun oni (they) is dropped here, the sentence starts with the l-participle bili, which acts as the host word for the enclitic bi in the second position.
If the subject "they" is omitted, how do we know this refers to a masculine or mixed group?
You can tell by the -li ending on both bili and ispravili. This is the masculine plural ending, which in Croatian is used for a group of all males or a mixed group of males and females. If the group were entirely female, the sentence would start with bile bi ispravile.
What is the difference between propust and a more common word like greška?
While greška is a general word for a mistake or error, propust specifically refers to an omission, oversight, or a failure to do something that should have been done. It comes from the verb propustiti (to let slip or to omit).